Hmm… I really don't like the idea of a zoom function opening another window that has to be closed before I can get on with things. It breaks up a smooth workflow.

However, if Scribus could display the document at multiple zoom levels at the same time - having different views of the same document in a split-screen configuration - then that might be very useful. You could set a different zoom level for each view and swap between the views as necessary, any changes being instantly reflected in the other view(s). There'd be no need for a "Previous" zoom then, and I could see that sort of thing being a very nice productivity aid. And it would give Scribus another layer of professional sheen too.

Scribus already allows you to tile windows showing different independently-zoomable documents in the same window so maybe it's not that much of a leap to show the same document at different zoom levels. I've no idea what the coding overhead would be to do that though.

Each to their own preferences but I'd prefer not to have another floating window (or whatever). My screen gets cluttered enough with the Properties, Layers and A&D palettes up most of the time. (BTW: I'd love to be able to pick alignment functions from a drop-down menu on the toolbar instead of having a big palette in my face all the time.)

Also, I'm not really sure of what use a "temporary zoom" window/dialog/mode (or whatever) would be. If Scribus has gone to the trouble of displaying something then why not let the user also edit it? Then it becomes just another window within Scribus which is what I mentioned in my last post. It already has this capability so it could be utilised in a slightly different way.

Why have a different "mode" to enter and exit when it could just be a different view of the same document displayed as Scribus already displays documents? No special rules or anything like that, just edit it as normal.

I still don't understand why it has got to be handled differently or thought of as temporary or as a new "mode".

If the user can have multiple views of the same document open at the same time - many other applications allow this (I'm not describing a radical new way of working) - then each view can be handled the same way as different documents are at the moment. No special handling necessary. No differences in workflow. Just work on the view you want to work on as usual.

The attached screenshot shows an example.

Discussion/argument will need to take place on how certain things are handled - e.g. the grid and guides are currently linked to the document, not a view - but, from a user-perspective, it shouldn't matter if you're working on multiple documents or multiple views of the same document. It should just be seamless without any special requirements.

I realise a lot of work would be needed to change Scribus to work this way which is why my earlier suggestion of a "previous zoom" would be a much cheaper stop-gap.

The thing I am talking about is the same as your "previous" zoom, I'm just trying to make it more intitive to the user if the "previous" zoom level is the normal one or not.

I'll make an example.

User is working in 75% zoom. To make small adjustments the user zooms in to 200% zoom on some items. Then "previous" zoom is 75%. But then the user is working at 200% zoom and wants to zoom out to see a whole spread. Since the user is in the "temporary" zoom the user SHOULD first select "previous" and then zoom out (to let's say 25%). Then "previous" will get the user back from 25% to 75%.

BUT, it the user accidentily instad of first choosing "previous" just zooms out to 25%, then "previous" is now 200% and not 75%. So when the user chooses "previous" he gets back to 200% instead of the expected 75%.

With my "solution" the user will see (by visual appearance) that the zoom currently used is the temporary zoom, so even if the user changes the temporary zoom from 200% to 25%, exiting the temporary zoom will still get the user back to 75% zoom.

I understood where you were coming from but I couldn't think of a nice way to implement it without adding extra complexity to the UI.

For instance, how would the user set the temporary zoom level? It would require a new button or something, and part of this little "exercise" was about trimming the zooming part of the UI down. The whole thing just didn't seem right to me.

I also understood the problem with the "Previous" zoom level jumping around when the user set different levels. I didn't have a solution for that either which is why I suggested the multiple views thing instead.

However, with all of this in mind, I've come up with an alternative which I'm calling the "Zoom Bar Version 0.1", see attached screenshot.

It consolidates all of the zoom functionality into one easy to use element.It removes the need for all of the other zoom UI elements (except in menus).It sits unobtrusively at the side of the window (in what is sometimes unused space anyway).It works in a similar way to existing UI elements (e.g. rulers and gradient stops).It makes zooming more interactive (just drag along the bar to change zoom).

(The maximum and minimum zoom levels could be specified by the user in Preferences.)

One thing it doesn't do is allow the user to set the zoom level at a specific size but that isn't necessary when you think about it. How often do you need to set the zoom to exactly a certain level? E.g. What's the actual difference between 20% and 21% zoom? Really all you want is for the document to been zoomed to whatever level looks best for what you need, the actual specific value is irrelevant. (If absolutely needed an extra button could be added to allow for a small pop-up entry field but I think that's overkill myself. If I'm wrong then tell me.)

Obviously the graphics will need to be cleaned up by a UI expert, this is just a simple mock-up that I put together very quickly.

What do you think? What does anyone think? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Are there any obvious flaws?